"Ava...lon," I repeated, and he rewarded me by releasing my wrists and spreading my thighs wide.

He stared at my pussy like a man starving, and the hunger in his expression made me clench with anticipation.

"So wet already," he murmured, one finger sliding through my folds. "Is this for me, Zephyr? Or for the bond?"

"Does it matter?" I managed to gasp.

"Yes." He pushed that finger inside me, and I cried out at the intrusion. "Because I need to know you want me. Not just the mate bond. Me."

"You're the same thing," I argued weakly as he added a second finger, stretching me.

"Wrong answer." He withdrew...